October 21, 2025 • 28 mins
In this episode of Quality Living With Peaceful Support, host Amanda Whittemore talks with LJ and Ryan from the Reps Grappling Team in Brookings. They discuss their journeys into grappling, describing it as a dynamic blend of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling, and judo. They share how the sport has improved their quality of life, offering stress […]
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome
to quality living with peaceful support program. I
am Amanda Whittemore.
(00:20):
I am your yoga teacher
and your end of life doula,
your newest real estate agent here in Brookings,
Oregon,
and
so many other things. I really don't want
to name name and label all of them,
but we'll get to that later.
We are just grateful that we have this
radio station, KCIW
one hundred point seven, to be the voice
(00:42):
of our local community.
It's so important that we utilize our voice
as much as body language is important,
as much as emails and text and written
notes,
TV, YouTube, you name it. Communication,
to me, is everything. So I'm very grateful
for all of the people who sponsor
(01:03):
and donate
to keep this local station alive.
Today
is a special day.
And
when we set our goals and intent intentions
to achieve something, we never know how or
when that will manifest.
The point is to always keep working on
them, and one day, it will show up.
(01:25):
Like these magical people in the studio today,
I'm so glad to have LJ and Ryan
of Rep's grappling team here with us. Hey,
guys. Hello. Hi. Yay.
We made it. Yes, we did. I was
like, this is the coolest team
in Rep's Gym. I love you guys all.
Rep's Gym is my favorite. However, there's so
many different groups that do activities there, and
(01:47):
I just really
appreciate the devotion that the Rep's grappling team
has shown.
Yeah.
It's been incredible. Yeah. It's an interesting journey
that we
started about, what, three years ago? For you?
Yeah. About two years for me. Yeah. Okay.
How did you were you pleased say to
(02:08):
our listeners
how you guys got into
grappling? We'll just kinda start there.
Okay. Ryan?
Well, the main coach,
I've known him for about ten years and,
also a coworker. And,
it's just something that I always talked about
and then, decided
(02:29):
that I wanted to stop talking about it,
start being about it. So I just signed
up, and
about two years ago, I've been going pretty
consistently ever since.
Oh my. Ryan has the best quote of
the year. Get your T shirt bumper sticker
printer maker. Stop talking about it. Be about
it.
Oh, yeah.
Alright, LJ. Okay. Do you want the cute
(02:51):
story or like the real story? The real
deal. Okay. So,
my job is pretty stressful and,
started kind of wearing on me. So
I
found out about the class and,
wanted to give it a try and,
find like a positive
(03:11):
outlet
for my, you know, from daily life, and
I
never looked back ever since. Oh my. Yes.
Yeah.
Okay. You know, I'll bet you there's quite
a lot of our listeners saying, what is
grappling?
Well
At reps, we do
(03:31):
jiu jitsu, Brazilian jiu jitsu, to be specific.
Yeah.
With a touch of wrestling
Oh. With a touch of scramble.
Uh-huh. And,
a little bit of maybe,
judo.
So it's a little mix of
all of those things together. Yeah.
Some style and flavor? Style and flavor, yes.
(03:55):
Our coach likes to keep us on our
toes, and it's always very dynamic and it's
always, you know, very different. So we have
a lot of, you know, wrestlers that come
in and, you know,
we work with them. And then, you know,
we have our Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioners, I
would say, that would come in and, you
know, we
(04:15):
we cater to them as well. Okay. Okay.
Nice.
So when is this? How can people learn
about it? How can they get into it?
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
between five and 7PM.
We just started a ladies class.
Tuesday nights Yes, sweetie. Tuesday nights. What time?
Tuesday night, 6PM.
6PM. It's six to seven p. M, Tuesdays
(04:38):
for right now. And as time goes by
and
demand,
we might expand to Tuesdays and Thursdays. Okay.
Yes. Okay. All my ladies, come see
me. Yes.
This is so do they need experience?
No. No experience necessary. So for the women's
class, how I envisioned the whole, the whole
(04:59):
class is we're starting from the basic. We're
starting from the bottom. So no throws, no
harsh moves. It's women's only.
So,
no experience needed. Come on in.
We will meet you at your level.
And, you know, whatever you feel comfortable with
or don't feel comfortable with, we are more
than, you know, happy to work with you.
(05:22):
Mhmm.
Mhmm. We like that.
And how did you guys even get to
Brookings? Sometimes our listeners like a little bit
of a backstory. Just so we know, listeners,
this is Peaceful Support,
quality living with Peaceful Support program.
I'm Amanda. We're talking with LJ and Ryan
of Rep's grappling team,
and we're about to learn a little bit
(05:43):
about each of them of how they came
to, the Brookings area.
I should go first because your story is
better than mine.
I'm glad that you agree.
Yeah. I work at the prison. I'm just
a sergeant at the prison and,
so I moved here. That's a big deal,
man. Thank you for your service. Thanks. Mhmm.
(06:04):
And,
I didn't think
I was
excited to move up here. I wasn't sure
what to expect. I wasn't sure if I
was gonna like it a lot because I
because I'm from the city down south.
And when I got here, I just loved
the area. Mhmm. I lived in Crescent City
for a couple years, and then I really
wanted to
live in Oregon,
(06:24):
for a couple of different reasons. But,
mainly just quality of life seems a little
bit better on the side of the border.
Mhmm. Mhmm. And so,
once I started making enough money, we looked
into buying a house and
never really looked back. So There you go.
And you bought it. Everything's good? Oh, yeah.
Perfect. And so I heard you say quality
of life. We'll also we're just gonna interject
real quick with that super special question here
(06:45):
on the quality of living program. What does
quality of life represent to you?
Good question.
You know, I want I to me, it
means,
having,
like, fulfillment, you know, being satisfied with Yeah.
Where you're at in life or at least
where you're going.
I kinda
(07:06):
spent a lot of years
living to work, you know, instead of, working
to live, as the saying goes. And I
was really unhappy.
And,
kind of along with this jiu jitsu journey,
was a whole shift
in my quality of life, quality of living
to stop being about, you know, just work
and,
you know, cranking out overtime, whatever Right. And
(07:28):
just start enjoying my life more. And it's
been a journey in in and of itself,
but,
a good one. I've changed, definitely.
So Magical. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing.
That's really impressive. And it's it's work. It's
a lot of effort to make that mental
shift and then apply it to your tangible
physical world.
A lot of people can think about it,
(07:49):
talk about it, but you're being about it.
That's sweet.
If he's not, I'm here to give him
a gentle push.
I love it. LJ, tell us how you
got to Brookings area. Goodness. Just to Brookings.
So,
obviously, I'm an immigrant. Ten years ago, I
packed my bags and moved to The United
States Of America. From?
(08:11):
From Macedonia.
It's a very tiny country in Europe.
I'm sure a lot of people haven't heard
about it, but there is your opportunity.
Yeah. So, from Macedonia, I moved to Switzerland,
lived there for about a year.
It was not my cup of tea.
So from, went back to Macedonia, came to
(08:31):
America, and that was the best choice ever.
Moved a little bit around, from the East
Coast to, the Midwest and ended up in,
Brookings, Oregon.
And obviously, I mean,
look at the the ocean and and the
nature and it's just beautiful. And I mean,
a little community that's it was it was
(08:54):
tough to integrate in the community, but once
you're in, you are in. Those people love
you and they help you and, you know,
it's very, very,
inviting
and
good people. Yeah. Beautiful.
That's really, really nice. And
with I feel like I'm hearing the question
about peaceful support.
(09:15):
Where and how do you find peaceful support
within what you're doing here or now or
what does it even represent to you?
Peaceful support.
You know, being helpful to your neighbor, you
know, just being there for your community. I
mean,
being a good person because
(09:35):
I live by the saying, you know, whatever
you throw behind you, you want to find
it in front of you. So, you know,
t shirt, bumper sticker.
Take that, Brian.
Yeah, so just
being
a good person and helping people. I mean,
even through my work, So Monday through Friday,
I work for the
(09:57):
court in Gold Beach.
And then on the weekends, you can find
me at the South Coast Humane Society, where
you can adopt a cat or a dog.
And, you know,
making sure that those animals are taken care
of and, you know,
helping as much as possible.
That's where I see my service to this
community, you know, just being able to help
(10:18):
from both ends.
Absolutely. Full of peaceful support.
Nice.
And so with all these wonderful facets of
you guys, you found
this do you find that the grappling team
that you do it more and more? Or
how like, for someone who's thinking about going
from the idea of where they're at and
(10:41):
they're just ready to really
put it in action, would you recommend that
they
go full force,
go part time, sometimes once a month, join
reps, get a membership?
How does it work? So,
you know, fitness,
it's probably one of my favorite subjects to
(11:02):
talk about. Awesome. Let's do it.
So at the very least, I mean, at
least get the gym membership and then,
you know, come drop in with us Mhmm.
If you want and see what it's all
about.
I promise it's not as scary as it
looks maybe from the outside. Mhmm.
And then from there,
I I think you need to keep an
open mind and kinda
(11:23):
be willing to to understand that you don't
know everything I bet. You know, first day.
And,
it really is about the journey. You know?
It takes a long time just to get
to the point where you
are not getting submitted every five seconds. And
then Submitted? Yes. So, yeah, it's submission wrestling.
So Like, if you tap out? Mhmm. Okay.
(11:43):
Because it's better to tap out than to
fall out. Right? That's correct. Yeah. Okay.
And so
once you get to a point where you
can defend yourself, it then becomes about building
some kind of strategy, like an offensive strategy.
And it all takes time. It's all about
the journey. It's all about kinda
learning yourself, learning what you like, learning what
you don't like,
kind of putting your ego aside and be
(12:04):
willing to learn and adapt and understand that,
what works for one person might not work
for you and vice versa. So,
it's kind of a,
a good way to grow, like, mentally as
well as physically.
Mhmm.
And the fitness aspects, like,
(12:25):
my god, your cardio, your it'll transform your
body
in very short order.
Very short order. I like that.
Sometimes your appearance as well. I mean, people
cannot see it, but I can tell you
that Ryan has couple scratches. He has couple
battle wounds on his face. Yeah.
I won't take the headphones off, but, yeah,
(12:45):
it happens. We yeah. We are on radio,
so we're gonna give, you know, some special
behind the scenes details. But thank you, LJ.
Yeah. We we will so what's fun about
this show too is the
we're listening well, this airs locally to the
Curry County and then we get a link
once our magical
(13:06):
sound engineers,
get the show on air. We take that
link, and we can send that via text,
email, and everyone and anyone, anywhere in the
world
can listen to that.
And that's kind of the fun part.
Even in
Macedonia,
Masadoraan, we're gonna be famous forever.
(13:28):
Finally made it.
Started in Brookings.
Absolutely.
I did wanted to add to Ryan's explanation
about the grappling team. So,
it's not just the, you know, the grappling
and the learning aspect. It's very much, you
know, our little community. People there are very,
very nice.
I mean, you will gain a lot of
(13:49):
new friends and, you know, I mean, me
and Ryan started wrestling there and, you know,
grappling, and then I needed help with my,
you know, fitness and,
to learn things. So we started lifting together
and he, you know, he will give me
pointers and then I would go to my
coach, Brad, that, you know, then he will
help me with my calories and how and
who and like people are very nice. So
(14:10):
you have the other aspect. You gain, you
know, new friends and, you know, from time
to time we go and we have lunch
together and we have good times. So it's
not
just, you know, the fitness part and the
learning part. Trust me, after three years,
there is times that, you know, you're still
questioning yourself and you feel stupid, but you
know,
thank God to our patient coach that would,
(14:32):
you know, explain
over and over and over and, you know,
until you get it. And he's very much,
you know, customized,
would customize your, you know, what would work
for you and what will not work for
you. As an only female to the class,
I mean, there's a lot of times he
would come in and was like, No, no,
no, no. Do this. Don't do that.
(14:53):
And do it this way. And then, you
know, I go in and I beat up
the guys. And then, and then you're upset.
Oh my goodness.
Or, you know, they will they will do
a move and I'm like, tell me the
counter move. Yeah. You know? And and then
he will and then they get upset, but
it's okay. It's part of the process. Part
of the process. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because there's
different,
leverages that a male and a female body
(15:16):
has just like a battery.
There's a negative charge and a positive charge
and there's just it's just science.
It's not about anything else other than science.
I mean, then you have like, you know,
taller, shorter, bigger, smaller, but Different advantages. Yes.
I mean, it comes down to the technique
as well. But, you know, it's very helpful
that,
(15:37):
you know, we have a very good deal
with with our coach that he would come
in and actually, you know, modify the move
that will work for you. And I was
like, no, no, no. It's gonna work for
Ryan, but it's not gonna work for you.
Do it this way, which
is priceless. You know, in bigger gyms with
bigger classes, you know, of course, it's nice,
but here you have more like a, you
know, one on one person and everybody's very
(15:58):
helpful. You know, they will you will start
rolling and they will guide you. And because,
you know, you have to understand those are
your people. You spend a lot of time
with them, so you don't wanna hurt them.
You you want you want them to come
back and, you know, that's how we grow
together. I mean, of course, it gets intense,
but nobody will go and intentionally
won't want to hurt you and, you know.
(16:21):
Right. It's a place of support.
Exactly.
Yeah. That's beautiful.
Yes.
There's,
I hear the ability to
improve the power of being present,
coming through, like the teachings.
Well, if you've ever been in a rear
naked choke, the only thing you think about
(16:41):
is how to breathe.
You don't care what happened yesterday, you don't
care that, you know, you spilled your coffee
this morning. You just want to survive.
That's about it.
And
with time, you get yourself in that position
multiple times, then you become calm. Then you
don't panic. Then you don't, yes, you get
comfortable in uncomfortable position and you learn and
(17:03):
you grow. You don't panic anymore, you know,
and it's, you can apply that in life,
you know, and patience and, you know,
it's pretty good.
We say that in yoga all the time.
We take our practice, what we learn and
earn with those lessons, how we transform our
physical and mental state there, we can apply
that off the mat.
And it's like, I hear and see the
(17:25):
same across. Yeah? Yes. Very much. Yes. Nice.
Nice.
Believe it or not,
I did one time a grappling class
in Central America in Costa Rica. Oh,
Mira, mommy.
Yeah. And it was like you were saying,
(17:45):
I was going through some really stressful times.
I was completely alone during that time and
I was like,
how do I work through this? I didn't
wanna ignore it. I didn't want to
dissociate I didn't wanna what's the word? Like
like you were talking about, you throw it
behind, it's gonna come up in front. I
was like, I know that lesson. I choose
to do something different here. How do I
(18:06):
just be about it?
And they said they're doing it upstairs in
the yoga studio. And I was like at
first, I was like, you're grappling in our
yoga studio? Like, that is not the right
energy.
But then I, instead of, you know, rebelling
against it and getting all worked up, I
said, let's just try it.
And I went up with the most amount
(18:27):
of peace and respect to learn. Like you
were talking about, drop the ego.
It's real. You have to do those things
to be able to even enter into the
classroom. Just believe in yourself.
If you're feeling the calling to do it,
just do it. Just show up for yourself.
And I did and I learned so many
things. Our teacher, Kai, he owns a jiu
jitsu studio in Thailand
(18:48):
and he is out of this world and
I watched a student walk in. It was
after about
a month almost of classes.
Student walks in
and he had a lot of ego and
he tried to charge the teacher because he
was coming from a place of ego and
anger and he literally almost died that night.
Not intentionally,
(19:09):
but because he made the wrong move
and
out of defense to set him down and
to have him stop attacking the teacher, that
was the teacher's only option from that position.
Mhmm. And so it was like, it taught
me so much,
you know? And also I got my own
personal physical experience
that made me realize how important
(19:30):
the oxytocins are and human contact is. It
doesn't have to be a negative.
It's human contact is human contact, and it
can be used to for our benefit. I
mean, it's
all how we, you know, how we make
it out to be. I mean, we all
have anger and, you know,
we go through life, but,
the funniest people that come in through, our
(19:54):
door is the ones that see red. You
know, a lot of times you will hear,
you know, Oh, when I see red, and
it's like, bring it on.
Or, you know, I get to it, Well,
you're a female, so let me take it
easy on you. Oh, yeah, go ahead. Just,
yes, bring it on, you know? And
those people don't last because, you know, first
(20:16):
of all, nobody will wanna roll with you
because if you are after hurting people, and
we can sense it, we can feel it.
Instantly, yeah. Instantly,
and then you will learn a valuable lesson.
And you know, we don't want to hurt
you, but
in the same time, you have to know.
You have to protect and defend
yourself
and your teammates.
(20:37):
Mhmm. That's a real thing.
Yeah. Somebody's out of line, we send the
Met enforcer, AKA Ryan.
It's a little bar for Met enforcer.
Do you have different positions, like, in the
group or the team? Is there different leads
or different coordinators
or do you get guest instructors that join?
(20:58):
I mean, not, well, we have like an
assistant
teacher, I would say. We have Jeff.
When I started back in the day, he
was doing the beginner classes on Mondays Mhmm.
And I started with him, you know, step
by step, just the basics. And then, you
know, he trains with us
and, you know, he is a very good
resource to point out like, hey, don't do
(21:20):
this or, you know, he's helping out the
new people.
Then we have
David.
He comes in from time to time,
time to time and he recently got hurt.
So he is not training as much, but
he comes in and he kinda helps out
the new people and
it's there. Ryan does the open mat on
(21:40):
Saturday, so he comes in and unlocks
the room and, you know, waits patiently for
people to show up. Hoping someone shows up.
Yeah. What time is that open mat on
Saturday? About 04:30 ish. Oh, dang. Okay. So
that's after soccer practice and all the things
that the parents have Excusitis about, they can
make. Exactly. Yeah.
(22:01):
And it's very late, laid back. So it's
not an actual class. Coach does not come
in. But, you know, it's just a couple
of us and,
you have questions, you wanna take it easy,
that's the time. Sometimes we bring our ghee
and we do a ghee class with,
Jeff.
He loves the ghee. So, you know, he
would show us a trick or two and-
(22:22):
Okay. You know, we have a little pajama
party.
Yeah, yeah. Okay. And would you elaborate a
little bit more for our listeners what a
ghee would be? Yeah. We should've led with
that. Go ahead. So, primarily, we do what's
called no gi, which is,
officially, it should be a rash guard and
shorts with no pockets. But, you know, just
(22:44):
any kind of athletic wear Okay. I have
would pass.
Okay.
And then there's
a lot of schools, a lot of more
traditional schools will do ghee only.
Out here,
you know, gis are expensive,
and
kind of the
trend would be to be to do more
no gi. And so if it were more
(23:05):
popular, we'd probably have a full time gi
class, which is not that popular. So Mhmm.
Mhmm. But we still those of us that
have gis will bring them in once in
a while or sometimes I've been showing up
early actually in doing gi with, some of
the other members. So Mhmm. Cheating.
Devotion.
Devotion. Thank you. Yeah.
I mean, you know, it's just a different,
(23:27):
it's literally like two different sports. You know?
It's different techniques.
There's some crossover, but, yeah, you have,
it's kinda more slow, more controlled, I guess,
and,
More time to think. Yeah. You have to
be more technical in my opinion, but I've
only just started, so I really
I I don't know that much, so I
don't wanna get too too far.
(23:48):
Yeah. Interesting.
You know, sometimes our memory fogs us and
there's something when you just talk start talking
about the geese. I was like, oh, yeah.
My stepbrother owns a jiu jitsu jitsu club
in Costa Rica too. They his whole family
does it. It was as I was leaving
the country, so it's been a couple years
that they've been doing it, I wasn't there.
And I was like, oh, I I remember
what a gi looks like.
Yeah. So it's if somebody a gi, they
(24:09):
could relate it to, like, a karate gi
or other type of martial arts gi because
Brazilian jitsu is
Yep. It's it's,
basically the same. Yeah. Same. So that's the
type of a gi you would have for
grappling? Mhmm. Yes. Okay.
Nice. Nice.
And
listeners, we are here on the Quality Living
with Peaceful Support program talking with LJ and
(24:31):
Ryan of Rep's Gym
over there in the Seascape Building right on
West Benham.
And they have grappling classes,
similar and familiar styles of,
jujitsu and other
Wrestling.
Wrestling
and
where's my notes?
Judo.
(24:51):
Yeah. Judo. Exactly. And they do this Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays from five to 7PM.
And they're starting the women's
class on Tuesdays at 6PM. Everyone is welcome
to
of course you can talk about it, but
when you're done telling all your friends and
family,
be about it and get in there. That's
right.
That's right.
(25:12):
And don't,
you know, you can always stop by and,
you know, come and see the class.
Ask at the front desk. I think you
have to sign a waiver before you start
coming in
and, you know, just try it.
Good, good. And I see up on the
reps' gym wall when I'm in there, it
says,
tournaments or championships
(25:33):
or like, tell me how I always want
to know what is that? What's going on?
Brian, I got this. Brian.
Yeah. We have an ongoing saying, you know,
if your name is not on the wall,
don't talk to me. So basically, you know,
we have competitions
and
we, you know, for a small gym and
the resources that we have, we are doing
(25:53):
pretty good. I mean, our coach is on
it. We are making him, you know, we
made him proud, like, in every competition.
So, me and Ryan competed, what, last year,
the year before?
Yeah, last October. Yes, last October. Oh my
God. And mama brought gold, you know, not
to brag.
Oh, good evening.
Uh-huh.
(26:14):
And, then competed again and brought another gold,
you know, not that weird gold over here.
Oh, we got the third champion.
Yes.
So,
yeah,
we have a nice group, you know, that
would,
register for a competition. Our coach comes in
and yells at us and,
you know, and then we end up with
(26:35):
the gold.
Right, yeah. Is that how it works? Is
that how it works?
I mean,
we train pretty hard. Probably a little bit
more refined than that,
but basically, sure. Oh, come on.
It's a lot of training and it's a
lot of, you know, dedication. Our coach is
very, very dedicated. I mean, we take time
(26:56):
out of his family and kids
and he comes in
and shows up every single time.
And, you know, always ready to help and
we are not nice. We ask questions and
why and how. And there is not Drill
them. There's never, you know,
he's always there to answer. And just to
(27:17):
touch base on the tournaments, they're usually
Salem, Portland, so they're not the cheapest. And
I mean,
his dedication is just out, you know, out
of this world. He is always there for
us.
Outside of class, in class, whatever questions you
have, he's there. Well, thank you, coach Jeff.
And Brad. Coach Brad. And coach Brad. And
the best way would sign up at reps?
(27:39):
Yes. Okay. Go to the gym, go to
the front desk, tell them you wanna sign
up. They do a trial class for $15.
I I wanna say the full time membership
is an additional $20 on top of whatever
the gym membership is. Okay. If you have
any questions, you can look us up on
Instagram at reps grappling club.
Shoot us a DM. I'll get back to
you.
If you choose to email us,
(28:00):
it's repsgrapplingclub@gmail.com.
And other than that, you can try the
front desk. I don't know how much they
will help you with grappling related questions, but,
Come see us. Worth a try. Yeah. Come
talk to us. Well, thank you guys for
being on the quality living show with me
today. Thank you, LJ. Thank you, Ryan. Thank
you. Thank you, Amanda. Thank you, listeners.
Welcome
to quality living with peaceful support program. I
am Amanda Whittemore.
(00:20):
I am your yoga teacher
and your end of life doula,
your newest real estate agent here in Brookings,
Oregon,
and
so many other things. I really don't want
to name name and label all of them,
but we'll get to that later.
We are just grateful that we have this
radio station, KCIW
one hundred point seven, to be the voice
(00:42):
of our local community.
It's so important that we utilize our voice
as much as body language is important,
as much as emails and text and written
notes,
TV, YouTube, you name it. Communication,
to me, is everything. So I'm very grateful
for all of the people who sponsor
(01:03):
and donate
to keep this local station alive.
Today
is a special day.
And
when we set our goals and intent intentions
to achieve something, we never know how or
when that will manifest.
The point is to always keep working on
them, and one day, it will show up.
(01:25):
Like these magical people in the studio today,
I'm so glad to have LJ and Ryan
of Rep's grappling team here with us. Hey,
guys. Hello. Hi. Yay.
We made it. Yes, we did. I was
like, this is the coolest team
in Rep's Gym. I love you guys all.
Rep's Gym is my favorite. However, there's so
many different groups that do activities there, and
(01:47):
I just really
appreciate the devotion that the Rep's grappling team
has shown.
Yeah.
It's been incredible. Yeah. It's an interesting journey
that we
started about, what, three years ago? For you?
Yeah. About two years for me. Yeah. Okay.
How did you were you pleased say to
(02:08):
our listeners
how you guys got into
grappling? We'll just kinda start there.
Okay. Ryan?
Well, the main coach,
I've known him for about ten years and,
also a coworker. And,
it's just something that I always talked about
and then, decided
(02:29):
that I wanted to stop talking about it,
start being about it. So I just signed
up, and
about two years ago, I've been going pretty
consistently ever since.
Oh my. Ryan has the best quote of
the year. Get your T shirt bumper sticker
printer maker. Stop talking about it. Be about
it.
Oh, yeah.
Alright, LJ. Okay. Do you want the cute
(02:51):
story or like the real story? The real
deal. Okay. So,
my job is pretty stressful and,
started kind of wearing on me. So
I
found out about the class and,
wanted to give it a try and,
find like a positive
(03:11):
outlet
for my, you know, from daily life, and
I
never looked back ever since. Oh my. Yes.
Yeah.
Okay. You know, I'll bet you there's quite
a lot of our listeners saying, what is
grappling?
Well
At reps, we do
(03:31):
jiu jitsu, Brazilian jiu jitsu, to be specific.
Yeah.
With a touch of wrestling
Oh. With a touch of scramble.
Uh-huh. And,
a little bit of maybe,
judo.
So it's a little mix of
all of those things together. Yeah.
Some style and flavor? Style and flavor, yes.
(03:55):
Our coach likes to keep us on our
toes, and it's always very dynamic and it's
always, you know, very different. So we have
a lot of, you know, wrestlers that come
in and, you know,
we work with them. And then, you know,
we have our Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioners, I
would say, that would come in and, you
know, we
(04:15):
we cater to them as well. Okay. Okay.
Nice.
So when is this? How can people learn
about it? How can they get into it?
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
between five and 7PM.
We just started a ladies class.
Tuesday nights Yes, sweetie. Tuesday nights. What time?
Tuesday night, 6PM.
6PM. It's six to seven p. M, Tuesdays
(04:38):
for right now. And as time goes by
and
demand,
we might expand to Tuesdays and Thursdays. Okay.
Yes. Okay. All my ladies, come see
me. Yes.
This is so do they need experience?
No. No experience necessary. So for the women's
class, how I envisioned the whole, the whole
(04:59):
class is we're starting from the basic. We're
starting from the bottom. So no throws, no
harsh moves. It's women's only.
So,
no experience needed. Come on in.
We will meet you at your level.
And, you know, whatever you feel comfortable with
or don't feel comfortable with, we are more
than, you know, happy to work with you.
(05:22):
Mhmm.
Mhmm. We like that.
And how did you guys even get to
Brookings? Sometimes our listeners like a little bit
of a backstory. Just so we know, listeners,
this is Peaceful Support,
quality living with Peaceful Support program.
I'm Amanda. We're talking with LJ and Ryan
of Rep's grappling team,
and we're about to learn a little bit
(05:43):
about each of them of how they came
to, the Brookings area.
I should go first because your story is
better than mine.
I'm glad that you agree.
Yeah. I work at the prison. I'm just
a sergeant at the prison and,
so I moved here. That's a big deal,
man. Thank you for your service. Thanks. Mhmm.
(06:04):
And,
I didn't think
I was
excited to move up here. I wasn't sure
what to expect. I wasn't sure if I
was gonna like it a lot because I
because I'm from the city down south.
And when I got here, I just loved
the area. Mhmm. I lived in Crescent City
for a couple years, and then I really
wanted to
live in Oregon,
(06:24):
for a couple of different reasons. But,
mainly just quality of life seems a little
bit better on the side of the border.
Mhmm. Mhmm. And so,
once I started making enough money, we looked
into buying a house and
never really looked back. So There you go.
And you bought it. Everything's good? Oh, yeah.
Perfect. And so I heard you say quality
of life. We'll also we're just gonna interject
real quick with that super special question here
(06:45):
on the quality of living program. What does
quality of life represent to you?
Good question.
You know, I want I to me, it
means,
having,
like, fulfillment, you know, being satisfied with Yeah.
Where you're at in life or at least
where you're going.
I kinda
(07:06):
spent a lot of years
living to work, you know, instead of, working
to live, as the saying goes. And I
was really unhappy.
And,
kind of along with this jiu jitsu journey,
was a whole shift
in my quality of life, quality of living
to stop being about, you know, just work
and,
you know, cranking out overtime, whatever Right. And
(07:28):
just start enjoying my life more. And it's
been a journey in in and of itself,
but,
a good one. I've changed, definitely.
So Magical. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing.
That's really impressive. And it's it's work. It's
a lot of effort to make that mental
shift and then apply it to your tangible
physical world.
A lot of people can think about it,
(07:49):
talk about it, but you're being about it.
That's sweet.
If he's not, I'm here to give him
a gentle push.
I love it. LJ, tell us how you
got to Brookings area. Goodness. Just to Brookings.
So,
obviously, I'm an immigrant. Ten years ago, I
packed my bags and moved to The United
States Of America. From?
(08:11):
From Macedonia.
It's a very tiny country in Europe.
I'm sure a lot of people haven't heard
about it, but there is your opportunity.
Yeah. So, from Macedonia, I moved to Switzerland,
lived there for about a year.
It was not my cup of tea.
So from, went back to Macedonia, came to
(08:31):
America, and that was the best choice ever.
Moved a little bit around, from the East
Coast to, the Midwest and ended up in,
Brookings, Oregon.
And obviously, I mean,
look at the the ocean and and the
nature and it's just beautiful. And I mean,
a little community that's it was it was
(08:54):
tough to integrate in the community, but once
you're in, you are in. Those people love
you and they help you and, you know,
it's very, very,
inviting
and
good people. Yeah. Beautiful.
That's really, really nice. And
with I feel like I'm hearing the question
about peaceful support.
(09:15):
Where and how do you find peaceful support
within what you're doing here or now or
what does it even represent to you?
Peaceful support.
You know, being helpful to your neighbor, you
know, just being there for your community. I
mean,
being a good person because
(09:35):
I live by the saying, you know, whatever
you throw behind you, you want to find
it in front of you. So, you know,
t shirt, bumper sticker.
Take that, Brian.
Yeah, so just
being
a good person and helping people. I mean,
even through my work, So Monday through Friday,
I work for the
(09:57):
court in Gold Beach.
And then on the weekends, you can find
me at the South Coast Humane Society, where
you can adopt a cat or a dog.
And, you know,
making sure that those animals are taken care
of and, you know,
helping as much as possible.
That's where I see my service to this
community, you know, just being able to help
(10:18):
from both ends.
Absolutely. Full of peaceful support.
Nice.
And so with all these wonderful facets of
you guys, you found
this do you find that the grappling team
that you do it more and more? Or
how like, for someone who's thinking about going
from the idea of where they're at and
(10:41):
they're just ready to really
put it in action, would you recommend that
they
go full force,
go part time, sometimes once a month, join
reps, get a membership?
How does it work? So,
you know, fitness,
it's probably one of my favorite subjects to
(11:02):
talk about. Awesome. Let's do it.
So at the very least, I mean, at
least get the gym membership and then,
you know, come drop in with us Mhmm.
If you want and see what it's all
about.
I promise it's not as scary as it
looks maybe from the outside. Mhmm.
And then from there,
I I think you need to keep an
open mind and kinda
(11:23):
be willing to to understand that you don't
know everything I bet. You know, first day.
And,
it really is about the journey. You know?
It takes a long time just to get
to the point where you
are not getting submitted every five seconds. And
then Submitted? Yes. So, yeah, it's submission wrestling.
So Like, if you tap out? Mhmm. Okay.
(11:43):
Because it's better to tap out than to
fall out. Right? That's correct. Yeah. Okay.
And so
once you get to a point where you
can defend yourself, it then becomes about building
some kind of strategy, like an offensive strategy.
And it all takes time. It's all about
the journey. It's all about kinda
learning yourself, learning what you like, learning what
you don't like,
kind of putting your ego aside and be
(12:04):
willing to learn and adapt and understand that,
what works for one person might not work
for you and vice versa. So,
it's kind of a,
a good way to grow, like, mentally as
well as physically.
Mhmm.
And the fitness aspects, like,
(12:25):
my god, your cardio, your it'll transform your
body
in very short order.
Very short order. I like that.
Sometimes your appearance as well. I mean, people
cannot see it, but I can tell you
that Ryan has couple scratches. He has couple
battle wounds on his face. Yeah.
I won't take the headphones off, but, yeah,
(12:45):
it happens. We yeah. We are on radio,
so we're gonna give, you know, some special
behind the scenes details. But thank you, LJ.
Yeah. We we will so what's fun about
this show too is the
we're listening well, this airs locally to the
Curry County and then we get a link
once our magical
(13:06):
sound engineers,
get the show on air. We take that
link, and we can send that via text,
email, and everyone and anyone, anywhere in the
world
can listen to that.
And that's kind of the fun part.
Even in
Macedonia,
Masadoraan, we're gonna be famous forever.
(13:28):
Finally made it.
Started in Brookings.
Absolutely.
I did wanted to add to Ryan's explanation
about the grappling team. So,
it's not just the, you know, the grappling
and the learning aspect. It's very much, you
know, our little community. People there are very,
very nice.
I mean, you will gain a lot of
(13:49):
new friends and, you know, I mean, me
and Ryan started wrestling there and, you know,
grappling, and then I needed help with my,
you know, fitness and,
to learn things. So we started lifting together
and he, you know, he will give me
pointers and then I would go to my
coach, Brad, that, you know, then he will
help me with my calories and how and
who and like people are very nice. So
(14:10):
you have the other aspect. You gain, you
know, new friends and, you know, from time
to time we go and we have lunch
together and we have good times. So it's
not
just, you know, the fitness part and the
learning part. Trust me, after three years,
there is times that, you know, you're still
questioning yourself and you feel stupid, but you
know,
thank God to our patient coach that would,
(14:32):
you know, explain
over and over and over and, you know,
until you get it. And he's very much,
you know, customized,
would customize your, you know, what would work
for you and what will not work for
you. As an only female to the class,
I mean, there's a lot of times he
would come in and was like, No, no,
no, no. Do this. Don't do that.
(14:53):
And do it this way. And then, you
know, I go in and I beat up
the guys. And then, and then you're upset.
Oh my goodness.
Or, you know, they will they will do
a move and I'm like, tell me the
counter move. Yeah. You know? And and then
he will and then they get upset, but
it's okay. It's part of the process. Part
of the process. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because there's
different,
leverages that a male and a female body
(15:16):
has just like a battery.
There's a negative charge and a positive charge
and there's just it's just science.
It's not about anything else other than science.
I mean, then you have like, you know,
taller, shorter, bigger, smaller, but Different advantages. Yes.
I mean, it comes down to the technique
as well. But, you know, it's very helpful
that,
(15:37):
you know, we have a very good deal
with with our coach that he would come
in and actually, you know, modify the move
that will work for you. And I was
like, no, no, no. It's gonna work for
Ryan, but it's not gonna work for you.
Do it this way, which
is priceless. You know, in bigger gyms with
bigger classes, you know, of course, it's nice,
but here you have more like a, you
know, one on one person and everybody's very
(15:58):
helpful. You know, they will you will start
rolling and they will guide you. And because,
you know, you have to understand those are
your people. You spend a lot of time
with them, so you don't wanna hurt them.
You you want you want them to come
back and, you know, that's how we grow
together. I mean, of course, it gets intense,
but nobody will go and intentionally
won't want to hurt you and, you know.
(16:21):
Right. It's a place of support.
Exactly.
Yeah. That's beautiful.
Yes.
There's,
I hear the ability to
improve the power of being present,
coming through, like the teachings.
Well, if you've ever been in a rear
naked choke, the only thing you think about
(16:41):
is how to breathe.
You don't care what happened yesterday, you don't
care that, you know, you spilled your coffee
this morning. You just want to survive.
That's about it.
And
with time, you get yourself in that position
multiple times, then you become calm. Then you
don't panic. Then you don't, yes, you get
comfortable in uncomfortable position and you learn and
(17:03):
you grow. You don't panic anymore, you know,
and it's, you can apply that in life,
you know, and patience and, you know,
it's pretty good.
We say that in yoga all the time.
We take our practice, what we learn and
earn with those lessons, how we transform our
physical and mental state there, we can apply
that off the mat.
And it's like, I hear and see the
(17:25):
same across. Yeah? Yes. Very much. Yes. Nice.
Nice.
Believe it or not,
I did one time a grappling class
in Central America in Costa Rica. Oh,
Mira, mommy.
Yeah. And it was like you were saying,
(17:45):
I was going through some really stressful times.
I was completely alone during that time and
I was like,
how do I work through this? I didn't
wanna ignore it. I didn't want to
dissociate I didn't wanna what's the word? Like
like you were talking about, you throw it
behind, it's gonna come up in front. I
was like, I know that lesson. I choose
to do something different here. How do I
(18:06):
just be about it?
And they said they're doing it upstairs in
the yoga studio. And I was like at
first, I was like, you're grappling in our
yoga studio? Like, that is not the right
energy.
But then I, instead of, you know, rebelling
against it and getting all worked up, I
said, let's just try it.
And I went up with the most amount
(18:27):
of peace and respect to learn. Like you
were talking about, drop the ego.
It's real. You have to do those things
to be able to even enter into the
classroom. Just believe in yourself.
If you're feeling the calling to do it,
just do it. Just show up for yourself.
And I did and I learned so many
things. Our teacher, Kai, he owns a jiu
jitsu studio in Thailand
(18:48):
and he is out of this world and
I watched a student walk in. It was
after about
a month almost of classes.
Student walks in
and he had a lot of ego and
he tried to charge the teacher because he
was coming from a place of ego and
anger and he literally almost died that night.
Not intentionally,
(19:09):
but because he made the wrong move
and
out of defense to set him down and
to have him stop attacking the teacher, that
was the teacher's only option from that position.
Mhmm. And so it was like, it taught
me so much,
you know? And also I got my own
personal physical experience
that made me realize how important
(19:30):
the oxytocins are and human contact is. It
doesn't have to be a negative.
It's human contact is human contact, and it
can be used to for our benefit. I
mean, it's
all how we, you know, how we make
it out to be. I mean, we all
have anger and, you know,
we go through life, but,
the funniest people that come in through, our
(19:54):
door is the ones that see red. You
know, a lot of times you will hear,
you know, Oh, when I see red, and
it's like, bring it on.
Or, you know, I get to it, Well,
you're a female, so let me take it
easy on you. Oh, yeah, go ahead. Just,
yes, bring it on, you know? And
those people don't last because, you know, first
(20:16):
of all, nobody will wanna roll with you
because if you are after hurting people, and
we can sense it, we can feel it.
Instantly, yeah. Instantly,
and then you will learn a valuable lesson.
And you know, we don't want to hurt
you, but
in the same time, you have to know.
You have to protect and defend
yourself
and your teammates.
(20:37):
Mhmm. That's a real thing.
Yeah. Somebody's out of line, we send the
Met enforcer, AKA Ryan.
It's a little bar for Met enforcer.
Do you have different positions, like, in the
group or the team? Is there different leads
or different coordinators
or do you get guest instructors that join?
(20:58):
I mean, not, well, we have like an
assistant
teacher, I would say. We have Jeff.
When I started back in the day, he
was doing the beginner classes on Mondays Mhmm.
And I started with him, you know, step
by step, just the basics. And then, you
know, he trains with us
and, you know, he is a very good
resource to point out like, hey, don't do
(21:20):
this or, you know, he's helping out the
new people.
Then we have
David.
He comes in from time to time,
time to time and he recently got hurt.
So he is not training as much, but
he comes in and he kinda helps out
the new people and
it's there. Ryan does the open mat on
(21:40):
Saturday, so he comes in and unlocks
the room and, you know, waits patiently for
people to show up. Hoping someone shows up.
Yeah. What time is that open mat on
Saturday? About 04:30 ish. Oh, dang. Okay. So
that's after soccer practice and all the things
that the parents have Excusitis about, they can
make. Exactly. Yeah.
(22:01):
And it's very late, laid back. So it's
not an actual class. Coach does not come
in. But, you know, it's just a couple
of us and,
you have questions, you wanna take it easy,
that's the time. Sometimes we bring our ghee
and we do a ghee class with,
Jeff.
He loves the ghee. So, you know, he
would show us a trick or two and-
(22:22):
Okay. You know, we have a little pajama
party.
Yeah, yeah. Okay. And would you elaborate a
little bit more for our listeners what a
ghee would be? Yeah. We should've led with
that. Go ahead. So, primarily, we do what's
called no gi, which is,
officially, it should be a rash guard and
shorts with no pockets. But, you know, just
(22:44):
any kind of athletic wear Okay. I have
would pass.
Okay.
And then there's
a lot of schools, a lot of more
traditional schools will do ghee only.
Out here,
you know, gis are expensive,
and
kind of the
trend would be to be to do more
no gi. And so if it were more
(23:05):
popular, we'd probably have a full time gi
class, which is not that popular. So Mhmm.
Mhmm. But we still those of us that
have gis will bring them in once in
a while or sometimes I've been showing up
early actually in doing gi with, some of
the other members. So Mhmm. Cheating.
Devotion.
Devotion. Thank you. Yeah.
I mean, you know, it's just a different,
(23:27):
it's literally like two different sports. You know?
It's different techniques.
There's some crossover, but, yeah, you have,
it's kinda more slow, more controlled, I guess,
and,
More time to think. Yeah. You have to
be more technical in my opinion, but I've
only just started, so I really
I I don't know that much, so I
don't wanna get too too far.
(23:48):
Yeah. Interesting.
You know, sometimes our memory fogs us and
there's something when you just talk start talking
about the geese. I was like, oh, yeah.
My stepbrother owns a jiu jitsu jitsu club
in Costa Rica too. They his whole family
does it. It was as I was leaving
the country, so it's been a couple years
that they've been doing it, I wasn't there.
And I was like, oh, I I remember
what a gi looks like.
Yeah. So it's if somebody a gi, they
(24:09):
could relate it to, like, a karate gi
or other type of martial arts gi because
Brazilian jitsu is
Yep. It's it's,
basically the same. Yeah. Same. So that's the
type of a gi you would have for
grappling? Mhmm. Yes. Okay.
Nice. Nice.
And
listeners, we are here on the Quality Living
with Peaceful Support program talking with LJ and
(24:31):
Ryan of Rep's Gym
over there in the Seascape Building right on
West Benham.
And they have grappling classes,
similar and familiar styles of,
jujitsu and other
Wrestling.
Wrestling
and
where's my notes?
Judo.
(24:51):
Yeah. Judo. Exactly. And they do this Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays from five to 7PM.
And they're starting the women's
class on Tuesdays at 6PM. Everyone is welcome
to
of course you can talk about it, but
when you're done telling all your friends and
family,
be about it and get in there. That's
right.
That's right.
(25:12):
And don't,
you know, you can always stop by and,
you know, come and see the class.
Ask at the front desk. I think you
have to sign a waiver before you start
coming in
and, you know, just try it.
Good, good. And I see up on the
reps' gym wall when I'm in there, it
says,
tournaments or championships
(25:33):
or like, tell me how I always want
to know what is that? What's going on?
Brian, I got this. Brian.
Yeah. We have an ongoing saying, you know,
if your name is not on the wall,
don't talk to me. So basically, you know,
we have competitions
and
we, you know, for a small gym and
the resources that we have, we are doing
(25:53):
pretty good. I mean, our coach is on
it. We are making him, you know, we
made him proud, like, in every competition.
So, me and Ryan competed, what, last year,
the year before?
Yeah, last October. Yes, last October. Oh my
God. And mama brought gold, you know, not
to brag.
Oh, good evening.
Uh-huh.
(26:14):
And, then competed again and brought another gold,
you know, not that weird gold over here.
Oh, we got the third champion.
Yes.
So,
yeah,
we have a nice group, you know, that
would,
register for a competition. Our coach comes in
and yells at us and,
you know, and then we end up with
(26:35):
the gold.
Right, yeah. Is that how it works? Is
that how it works?
I mean,
we train pretty hard. Probably a little bit
more refined than that,
but basically, sure. Oh, come on.
It's a lot of training and it's a
lot of, you know, dedication. Our coach is
very, very dedicated. I mean, we take time
(26:56):
out of his family and kids
and he comes in
and shows up every single time.
And, you know, always ready to help and
we are not nice. We ask questions and
why and how. And there is not Drill
them. There's never, you know,
he's always there to answer. And just to
(27:17):
touch base on the tournaments, they're usually
Salem, Portland, so they're not the cheapest. And
I mean,
his dedication is just out, you know, out
of this world. He is always there for
us.
Outside of class, in class, whatever questions you
have, he's there. Well, thank you, coach Jeff.
And Brad. Coach Brad. And coach Brad. And
the best way would sign up at reps?
(27:39):
Yes. Okay. Go to the gym, go to
the front desk, tell them you wanna sign
up. They do a trial class for $15.
I I wanna say the full time membership
is an additional $20 on top of whatever
the gym membership is. Okay. If you have
any questions, you can look us up on
Instagram at reps grappling club.
Shoot us a DM. I'll get back to
you.
If you choose to email us,
(28:00):
it's repsgrapplingclub@gmail.com.
And other than that, you can try the
front desk. I don't know how much they
will help you with grappling related questions, but,
Come see us. Worth a try. Yeah. Come
talk to us. Well, thank you guys for
being on the quality living show with me
today. Thank you, LJ. Thank you, Ryan. Thank
you. Thank you, Amanda. Thank you, listeners.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.